Kara no Shoujo Would Be Perfect If It Wasn’t a Porn Game

Kara no Shoujo is close to being my ideal game. The visual novel casts you as a PI investigating a string of dismemberment murders. You have to investigate crime scenes, do undercover work, and pour over your notes as you attempt to deduce the culprit’s identity. If you make the wrong choices, you may find yourself meeting a grisly end.

I’ve loved murder mysteries for as long as I can remember, and I’m a sucker for a good visual novel. The story is gripping, and the characters are intriguing. It’s close to being everything I look for in my entertainment. There’s only one problem. It’s a porn game.

I’ve been intrigued by Kara no Shoujo from the moment I heard about it. It wasn’t just its premise or my penchant for brutal bad endings. There was something about the game that called out to me, that made me want to try it in spite of my aversion to eroges. When it was initially released, I visited the product page, thinking that maybe the adult content wouldn’t be that bad. Then I looked at the product images, cringed, and closed out my browser.

It took me years to get over my squeamishness and finally give the game a try. My reluctance made me feel like a stereotypical puritan, but I couldn’t get past it. Finally, after reading that sex scenes could easily be skipped with a press of the space button, I downloaded the demo and gave it a go.

Within minutes, I was completely hooked. The murders were gruesome, but in a fascinating way, and I quickly began putting together theories. There were little details that immediately caught my attention, and I couldn’t wait to find out what they meant. With every new clue, the case got more and more interesting.

Then a random CG of a naked anime girl reminded me of what I was playing.

The frustrating part of Kara no Shoujo is that it doesn’t feel like a porn game until it does. It’s a great mystery game, and it’s easy to get lost in its story before a gratuitous bit of nudity distracts you. These CGs are few and far between, at least in the demo, but they definitely detract from the overall experience.

I’m not sure if I’ll pick up Kara no Shoujo after I finish the demo. For the most part, it’s great, but some portions are really off-putting. It’s hard to justify spending $30 on a game when so much of its content makes me want to hide my face in my hands.

Still, it’d be a shame not to see this mystery through. I want to learn more about the characters and their pasts. I want to find out if my early hunches about the murders are right, and I’m dying to know how it all ends.

I’ll just have to decide if I can bring myself to pay for a porn game.